The Quilt.

I am happy to say that I have knocked a few projects off of my 2009 list already:

• finished the pompom hat for my sister (didn't take pictures! DUH!)

• finished the fingerless gloves for my husband; when my cousin asked me what I was making, and I told her fingerless gloves, she asked me if Joe planned on becoming homeless any time soon. *snicker*
• finished the patchwork quilt for sister #2.

This is about the quilt. It was quite simple to stitch together. It was only squares, nothing complicated. I like the way it turned out. I like the way totally non-matching fabrics seems to work well together in quilt-form. I used up a lot of scraps, and even used two of my husband's shirts that don't fit him anymore. (They're too big...don't even get me started on that...)

I am eager to start on another quilt; perhaps some sort of color scheme. Lately I'm enjoying the pale blue/white/red combo.

Oh, my sister seemed to like it. It is currently draped over her living room love seat. I will leave with a sampling of my favorite squares:

Sewing with Knit Fabric.

I made a shirt for myself yesterday. Once everything was cut out, the assembly went quickly.
The pattern is Simplicity 4878, it's an out-0f-print pattern, but I still bought it on Simplicity's site.

Overall, I do like this top, specifically, I chose the wrong type of fabric for my lumpy frame. It's a clingy fabric that shows every dimple and roll. Not flattering at all.

I did add 3 inches to the bottom since I like my tops a bit longer than normal.
I assembled it using an overlock stitch, which really made the seams nice, but the straight edges for the cuffs and hem look awful. They're all distorted. I'm not sure what I could've done to change that. Any suggestions?

Cupcakes.

Yesterday we made some cupcakes. I wanted to make some green tea cupcakes to use up the remainder of the matcha I purchased in October, but Abby turned her nose up at that idea and announced that she wanted "an-nell-ya" cupcakes. So, since the base for the green tea cupcakes is Magnolia Bakery's vanilla cupcakes, that was easy. I figured, heh, I'll just double up the recipe and make 12 vanilla and 12 green tea. Well, as you know, it helps to actually READ directions. Apparently, the quantity was already doubled. Instead of have 12 and 12, I had 24 and 24. I made 48 freakin' cupcakes yesterday.
We made Hershey's chocolate frosting for the vanilla cupcakes and an adaptation of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World's version of greentea frosting. (I used real butter...sue me.)

Summary:
Vanilla cupcakes were pretty good, I think the chocolate frosting is too strong for them. They could definitely benefit from a subtler, less sweet frosting. The green frosting probably would've been perfect.
Green Tea cupcakes were not actually cupcakes, but miniature loaves since I don't have that many cupcake pans. I forgot that I wanted to add more matcha then the recipe called for. I am in love with the flavor of matcha and find the cakes and frosting to be just about perfect.

So, out of the 48 cakes we had yesterday, how many are left today? Two. Yes, two. Abby ate about four cupcakes today. (I had three...did I just admit that?!) I brought some to my parents' house and to work. I licked the frosting off one of the green tea cakes and got rid of the rest. That's how much I love them...I sacrificed them for the sake of the greater good (my waistline.)

A Busy Weekend.

This past weekend was full of photo shoots.

Friday
I did some head shots for a great friend and wonderful actor, Michael Robinson. The shoot, itself was fairly easy. It was a simple studio set up.



Saturday
I did a photo shoot for Philly local band Aneurysm Rats. All the guys were very nice, but I did learn the challenge of shooting five people at the same time. I took over 300 pictures, and am happy with *maybe* 10.

Sunday
I took photos for Classy Little Bride. I used a white box I made based on this tutorial and the shots came out great.

Mousse!

For New Year's Day dessert, I made Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse à l'Orange from Cooking Light. It was pretty good, but for my sweet-tooth, could have been a tad sweeter.
I did, of course, make some alterations. I used the juice of one orange instead of the Grand Marnier since my three-year-old would be eating it. I also used all the zest from the orange instead of just the recommended 1 teaspoon.
I was very pleased with the result, I've made chocolate mousse from silken tofu before and have yet to be disappointed. My father, the genetic contribution for my sweet-tooth, and hard-core meat eater really enjoyed it. Not until I was certain that he was genuinely enjoying the dessert, did I let on that it was made with tofu. He seemed a bit disturbed, but oh well.

Projected Projects for 2009.

I have several things that I want to complete this year; in no particular order:

• Pompom hat for sister #1
• Fingerless gloves for my husband (he asked for them!)
• The damn foliage hat that I started and undid about three times
• Patchwork quilt for sister #2
  
• Quilt for Abby
• A hat and glove set for myself. (Undecided about pattern.)
• Afghan for sister #1
• Lace sampler shrug for myself
  

It's 5 days into 2009 and I have completed 2 projects, am working on another and yes, you guessed it, none of them are on my list.

Project #1: a pair of mittens for myself. They're orange and brown and I didn't take a picture of them yet. They're cute, but a stupid accessory for my RED winter coat.

Project #2: A pair of curtains for the least used room in the house. Makes sense, right?! I only bought the fabric because it was on sale at IKEA for $1.99 a roll. I made the curtains with no pattern, and I think that's pretty damn cool. Don't worry, I'm not fooling myself, I know simple hemming doesn't really constitute as a pattern.


Project #3: A slip-stitch scarf in a brown yarn. I only started it because me & Abby were staying at my parents' house for a few days and I didn't have anything else to work on.

Things I want to learn/improve in 2009:
instarsia knitting
quilting